Sunday, February 26, 2017

I met Margaret last evening at a little reception following
the 4:00pm Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg.I had spotted her out in the pews
earlier during the Mass.She had
the most lovely big, dark eyes, and beautiful curly, dark hair.She was actually rather
captivating.Now, before you get
too nervous, I need to add: Margaret’s not quite two years old….

When I was introduced to her, Margaret had a big cookie in
her hands, and was happily nibbling bits of it from around the edge.Her sippy cup was easily within
reach—her reach, and that of her mother and grandparents, as well.And when I last saw her, as we headed
out of the Cathedral together, Margaret had been wrapped in her pretty, pink,
polka dotted raincoat, with the hood up to protected her from the rain.

With food, drink, and clothing all taken care of, Margaret
seemed to be without a care in the world…with one exception.As the reception wore on, she began to
venture farther and farther into the room, away from her family’s table.But every 10-15 seconds, she’d turn
back to look over her shoulder.Margaret’s only worry was that she might wander out of her mother’s
sight.

How is it that little children, whose needs are so great,
manage to live without worry?Because they have complete confidence that they will be cared for; they
have prefect trust that they are loved.

As we continue our reading of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
this Sunday, he repeatedly tells us not to worry: “Look at the birds of the
air!See the wildflowers of the
field!Do not worry and ask, ‘What
are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’”At first glance, it might seem that
Jesus is encouraging us to irresponsibility—to throw caution to the wind and
neglect having any concern about the necessities of life.Nothing could be farther from the
truth!In the first pages of the
Bible, we’re told that, from the dawn of creation, we human beings have been
given a stewardship over the good things of this world.We are to cultivate and care for the
earth, by means of which God provides for our every material need—with more
than enough to go around.In
writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul reminds us that this stewardship extends
to spiritual goods, as well.For
them all, we must one day give an accounting—not according to the opinions of
our neighbors, but by the judgment of almighty God.

No, the opposite of worry is not irresponsibility.Jesus isn’t counseling us to be
careless, but carefree.What he
wants us to see is that the opposite if worry is faith.

Faith is a word that can have many dimensions.Three levels of meaning come to mind
for me today.

We can say, “I believe in God,” and mean nothing more than,
“I have faith that God exists.”Most people on this planet have some sort of belief in a “higher
power”—whether they believe in a god or gods or some impersonal force that
animates the universe.That’s not
the level of faith to which Jesus is calling us.

We can say, “I believe in God,” and mean, “I have faith that
the God revealed by Jesus Christ exists.”This is the foundation of Christian faith: belief in the Most Blessed
Trinity—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—a personal God who is an eternal
communion of mutual love; and that this divine love overflows for sinful
mankind, and is most perfectly manifest in the life, death, and resurrection of
Christ, who is God-made-man.But
Jesus is calling us to a level of faith even deeper than that.

When we say, “I believe in God,” we need to be saying, “I
don’t only believe that God is perfect, eternal love.I believe that God loves ME—individually, particularly, and
personally.He knows me inside
out, and has a plan for my life.And I believe that to follow that plan, to obey his will, is my only
path to real happiness—in this life and the next.And that’s what God wants more than anything else: for me to
be happy with him forever.”

Jesus is calling us to just the sort of faith, the sort of
trust, that I saw in Margaret.As
Isaiah relates it so powerfully, “Can a mother forget her infant, be without
tenderness for the child of her womb?”We know of no stronger human bond than that between mother and
child…which is why it’s so shocking to ever read the story of a mother
abandoning her baby on the steps of a hospital, orphanage, or church.It should equally sadden and shock that
the law of the land permits a mother to end the life of a little one growing within
her.“Even should she forget,” the
Lord assures, “I will never forget you.”It’s faith in that sort of promise that frees us of every worry.We are to believe that we are
constantly cared for, to trust that we are perfectly loved.

If you want to be free from every worry, then you’ll have to
put your complete confidence in God—not just for the most part, but 100%.The trick is, we oftentimes put our
confidence in the good things God provides, rather than in God himself—or even
mistakenly believe that we can provide them all on our own.

Lent starts this Wednesday, and it’s a fairly common custom
for folks to give up something for 40 days.When we decide to give up something for Lent, it shouldn’t
be something sinful…since we ought to give up our sins not only for a season,
but for a lifetime.No, during
Lent the challenge is to give up something good, and do so in favor of
something even better.To practice
such freely-chosen sacrifice and self-denial helps to refocus our faith and
strengthen our will.Lent is a
perfect time to make sure our trust is where it rightly belongs.

May this Lent be a time that frees you from all worry.Look to the birds of the air, the
wildflowers in the field, to little children like Margaret, and learn to trust
in the Lord’s love for you.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

“An eye for an eye…and soon the whole world is blind.”Gandhi is reported to have said
that.A comic gave it a new twist:
“An eye for an eye, and soon…we all look like pirates!”

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand,
a foot for a foot.”We find this
law—mentioned by Jesus in the gospel—three times in the Old Testament (Exodus
21:23-25, Leviticus 24:19-20, and Deuteronomy 19:21).It sounds quite brutal, even barbaric, doesn’t it?And yet, it was rather a significant
improvement over what came before.

You see, when we’ve been hurt—or a family member, or our
property, or our rights have been hurt—we fallen, sinful human beings have a
rather strong tendency to seek revenge: “You injured my eye?Now I’ll make sure your whole family’s
goes blind!”I wish I could say
we’d left this inclination behind back in the Stone Age…but you and I both know
that it’s there every day in the morning paper and on the evening news.

The law of “an eye for eye” is actually a way for containing
the violence of revenge.It limits
a person to simply “getting even.” It does not permit you to inflict any more harm than
was first inflicted on you…and so it represents a step in the right direction.

Since this was clearly the law on the books at the time of
Jesus, did that mean there were a lot of one-eyed, toothless Jews running
around?Of course not!Actually, nowhere in the Bible do we
find any evidence of this law having ever been strictly enforced.In fact, we know that in Jesus’
day the law was interpreted in favor of paying a ransom: “You knocked my tooth
out!By rights, the law allows me
to now knock out one of yours…but that won’t do either you or me any good, will
it?So what’s that tooth really
worth to you?Pay me a ransom for
it, and you’ll get to keep it, and we’ll call things even.”It might only be a small step, but it’s
still another step in the right direction!

You begin to see here the long-range lesson plan by which
God teaches the slow-learning human race, moving us from revenge, to limited
retribution, to a ransom as restitution.Now, in Jesus, God seeks to make one last big stride forward—all the way
to reconciliation: “Offer no resistance to one who is evil.When someone strikes you on your right
cheek, turn the other one as well.”

Scientists tell us that we human beings, like every other
animal on the planet, have two basic instincts when we’re under attack: fight
or flight.You can put up your
dukes, or turn tail and run.Those
two options make perfect sense in the law of the wild, where it’s all about
survival of the fittest.But we
humans are different than all the other animals.Our lives are not governed by instinct, but free will.For us, fight and flight both result in
certain loss: flee, and you cede the higher grown to the one who does wrong;
fight, meeting violence with further violence, and you lower yourself to the
same level as the wicked.

Jesus teaches us a third way.Turning the other cheek can sound rather passive and naïve,
but nothing could be farther from the truth.Jesus is certainly not saying that Christians ought to be
the world’s doormat.To stand your
ground when slapped reveals an incredible strength, forcing your oppressor to
look you in the eye as you essentially say, “You will not treat me this
way.”The red handprint on your
face also forces an enemy to confront his own injustice.It’s a tactic aimed not so much at
conquering your foe, as it is as opening her to conversion.You put up a counterintuitive sort of
resistance—one that challenges the other to repent.Evil can only intensify when met with further evil, but it is
completely disarmed when it comes face-to-face with goodness.Jesus teaches us to feely renounce our legal
right to retaliate in favor of a higher purpose—of something far stronger than vengeance
or hate or even death: of the all-surpassing power of love.

The gospel teaching we hear this Sunday is part of Jesus’
Sermon on the Mount. It’s the
fourth Sunday in a row that we hear a portion of it. It’s no accident that Jesus is speaking to us on a
mountain. Where did Moses receive
the law from God? On a mountain. This Sunday and last, as Jesus provides
a rather authoritative commentary on that law, his mountainside perch is a
subtle hint at who he really is.
But there’s more to it than that.
To ascend a mountain, you must gradually climb higher and higher. Jesus is calling us to continually
greater heights in our relationship with God.

This Sunday, Jesus is asking us, “What’s your standard in
moral action?How do make ethical
decisions?”Is your standard one
of fairness?(That’s “an eye for
an eye.”)That’s an OK place to
start—but come higher.Is your
standard to be better than the next guy: “At least I’m a cut above those tax
collectors and pagans!”Come
higher still.Is your standard
obedience to the commandments of God?That’s the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.But for disciples of Jesus, that too must
be surpassed…

In the Christian tradition, the sayings of Jesus we hear
this Sunday and last—“You have heard it said…but I say to you…”—are known as
“counsels of perfection.”They are
not substitutions or replacements for the law.(Jesus assured us last Sunday that he hadn’t come to abolish
the law, but to fulfill it.)These
“counsels of perfection” call us to yet another standard—to something even higher
than the law.The strict dictates
of law provide an essential foundation, to be sure, but meeting them is a
matter of minimal requirements.Just
imagine a couple trying to convince you they have the perfect marriage purely
by the standard of the Ten Commandments: “We don’t lie to each other, or cheat
on each other, or steal from each other.Heck—we haven’t even killed each other yet!Ours is clearly the ideal marriage!”Doing no harm is pretty important in a
relationship…but it’s only a start. There is, of course, no law that says a husband much
ever buy his wife flowers—not even on St. Valentine’s Day.But if he never does anything so
generous or tender, one could rightly begin to question if his love were
growing cold.Law requires the
minimum; love calls us to always keep doing more.

For those who follow Jesus, who want to grow in their relationship
with God, it’s not enough to keep the law; we’re to become more and more like
the Lawgiver.In his Sermon on the
Mount, Jesus points to the summit saying, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly
Father is perfect.”He repeats
what we first heard in Leviticus: “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.”To truly love one’s enemies—is there any possible way to be
more like God than that?The old
saying is spot on: “To err is human; to forgive, divine.”

How are you doing at being perfect?We strive for it, and keep on
trying…but we also keep on faltering and failing.Did Jesus ask us to do the impossible?No.It’s that we go about it wrong.We mistakenly think we can become perfect all on our own. St. Paul uncovers the secret: “Do you not
know that you are the temple of God?That God himself—the Holy Spirit—dwells within you?And where God dwells—his temple—is
holy.”God alone is perfect, and
it’s only his presence within that can perfect us.To be holy, to be perfect, is never a personal human achievement,
but always a gift, a God-given grace.Our part is to be open to receive it.

We sang in the words of the psalm, “The Lord is kind and
merciful.” My friends, let us
become more and more like the Lord: treating our friends with human kindness,
and treating our every enemy with divine mercy.

Friday, February 17, 2017

You know you've had a good great time when you end up looking like this:

There's nothing quite like icicles hanging off your own face!

That was me yesterday afternoon after a 7+ mile roundtrip cross-country ski (3+ of those miles breaking trail) to the "Sheep Meadow" lean-tos off the Hays Brook Truck Trail (near Paul Smiths). I hadn't been on my skis in a couple of years (we didn't get enough snow last winter), so it was a bit ambitious...but worth every ache and pain I'm enduring today to have enjoyed all that good snow we got this week...before it melts this weekend.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Gentlemen: What’s next Tuesday?St. Valentine’s Day, of course!(You can thank me later for the reminder.)Have you ever seen a list of written
rules for St. Valentine’s Day?I
haven’t, either, but there certainly are rules for Valentine’s Day, and the
quickest way to prove that…is to break them.

While the specific rules may vary from couple to couple,
there are some that are universal.I can come up with three. The first: Remember that it’s Valentine’s
Day.This is not a day to be
forgotten.Make sure
to do something that shows your sweetheart just how much you love her.

Second: Make sure whatever you give or do is something she
actually likes.While you might
think few things could be better than an entire evening at the Monster Truck
Show, that might not be to her liking.True love puts the needs and desires of one’s beloved ahead of your
own.Give her something, do
something for her, that you know will truly delight her heart.

And third: Don’t try to get by with doing the bare
minimum.It part of love’s logic
to do as much as possible, not as little.You’d never come home with just one chocolate—no, you bring a whole
box.Don’t buy her one flower, but
as big a bouquet as you can afford.Love calls us to sacrifice.

Most of us don’t stop to realize that, like these unwritten
and generally unspoken rules for St. Valentine’s Day, all of our relationships
are governed by similar codes of conduct: husbands and wives, parents and
children, teachers and students, among teammates, between coworkers.Although they may not appear on
paper, such rules are rather important.They don’t exist to limit or restrict us, but to protect and strengthen
our relationships—to put them on solid ground.

The trick is, these relational rules exist within a world of
many other laws—things like traffic laws and the tax code.Our approach to these different sets of
rules can sometimes get all mixed up.Have you ever sent the government more money at tax time than you had to,
just out of the kindness of your heart?Or asked the cop to please, please give you that speeding ticket?Of course not!In general, our approach to such rules
is to squeak by with the minimum required, to get away with as much as we can,
to do only as much as we absolutely have to.But apply that approach to the rules of relationships…and we
get into deep trouble pretty fast.

Our scripture readings this Sunday spend a lot of time
considering God’s rules: the first reading, psalm, and gospel all focus our
attention on keeping the Lord’s commandments.We often think about God’s Law in fairly legalistic.I think of W. C.
Fields, the actor and comedian from the early 1900’s.W. C. Fields was an unabashed atheist.So—the story goes—when an acquaintance
saw him thumbing through a Bible not long before he died, he had to ask, “Mr.
Fields, what are you doing?”“Looking for loopholes,” he replied.That approach—although common—is completely backwards!

As Jesus makes clear to us today, expounding on three of the
Ten Commandments, the Law of God is a lot more like the unwritten rules of St.
Valentine’s Day than like the speed limit.God’s Law isn’t a system of lifeless rewards and
punishments, but is made up of living rules meant to strengthen and protect a
relationship.If we make this
mistake about God’s Law, we end up looking at him like the Great Traffic Cop in
the Sky, waiting to catch us doing something wrong…rather than, as God revealed
himself on the Cross, as the great Lover of souls who will stop at nothing—not
even death—to win us for himself.

And so we can apply the three rules of St. Valentine’s Day
to our relationship with the Lord.First, we need to remember.With Jesus, every day is Valentine’s Day.Not a day goes by when he does not shower us with blessings,
making abundantly clear his undying love for you and me.Likewise we must, not only on special
occasions, but each day, and throughout the day, continually express our love
for Christ in thought, word, and deed.

Second, we must give the Lord the things that most delight
his Sacred Heart.When it comes to
interpreting and applying God’s law, we're often tempted to do so in way that
revolves around what’s most pleasant to us, rather than considering what’s most
pleasing to him.God has told us
what he desires: in the commandments spelled out in the Bible, in the doctrines
and disciplines of his Church.Let’s be sure to give the Lord what he wants.

And finally, we must not settle for doing the least
required.I can’t tell you how
many times I’ve been asked to answer questions like:So, just how late can I be for Sunday Mass and still have it
“count”?How often do I really
have to go to confession?In
effect, we wonder what’s the bare minimum that’s required to be considered a
“good Catholic,” how much we can get away with and still avoid the fires of
Gehenna.Such legalistic thinking isn’t the
logic of love!Jesus makes it
clear: if we want to follow him, it’s not enough to have avoided murder,
adultery, and perjury.The rules
of this relationship call us to aim much higher: to speak in ways that give
life, rather than tear down; to never regard another—even in our hidden
thoughts—as an object to be used, but as a person with immense dignity; by our every action,
to show we’re someone devoted to the truth.The question we ought to keep asking isn’t, “How much do I
have I do?’ but, “How much more can I do?”

Jesus tells us that he hasn’t come to abolish any of the
commandments, or even any part of them, but to bring them to fulfillment. Let us fulfill the rules of our relationship with God by
constantly looking for ways to show him our love. Blessed indeed are those who follow the Law of the Lord!

Sunday, February 5, 2017

“You are the salt of the earth….You are the light of the world.”Unless he’d used air and water, it’s hard to imagine that
Jesus could have found two things more ordinary, more commonplace, than salt
and light to describe the role and mission of his disciples.Because these things are so very ordinary,
the deep significance of what Jesus is saying can slip right past us.But considering four everyday experiences
we all regularly have with salt and with light can begin to make it clear that
the life to which Jesus calls us is anything but commonplace, anything but
ordinary.

Have you ever forgotten to add the salt to a recipe—or eaten
food by someone who did?It tastes
flat, bland.Ever tried to walk
through a dark, unfamiliar room?It can be a rather dangerous thing to do!In both cases, the essential role of salt and light is
apparent from their absence.A
little bit of salt doesn’t only make most things taste better; it makes them so
that they have taste at all, enhancing the flavors of the other ingredients.And even just a few rays of light make
it possible to safely find our way around.Just so, we Christians have an essential role to play in the
world.Without Christians and the
role we’re called to play, this world would lose its zest.Without the light of Christ we’re
called to reflect, the human race would stumble even more than it does now and
completely lose its way.Jesus
asks us to consider the uselessness of salt that’s lost its taste…but that can
only happen if it’s not really salt anymore.Similarly, we can’t even imagine a light that does not
shine.Nor is it possible to be a
disciple of Jesus, a Christian, a Catholic in name only.We have been given something vital to
do on this earth, an indispensible role in the world.

Have you ever added way too much salt to something you’re
cooking—or eaten food by someone else who did?All you can taste it the salt!Have you ever had another driver following right on your
tail, and they just won’t turn off their high beams?The point of having headlights is too make it easier to see
the road…but with all that glare in your rearview mirror, you can’t see the
road or anything else.When used
as they should be, salt elevates the flavor of other ingredients and light
reveals the things on which it shines.Too much salt, too much light, and they manage to only draw attention to
themselves.So, too, have you and
I been sent by Jesus to draw the worlds’ attention to him, and not to us.The role we’ve been given is an
essential one, but not exalted.Humility is key in the life to which we’ve been called.

Imagine you’re making a pot of soup that you’ll share with
somebody else, and as you add the salt, you do so on only one side of the pot,
thinking, “I like my soup saltier than she does, so I’ll eat from this side of
the pot and she can eat from the other.”That’d be ridiculous, of course, since the salt will dissolve throughout
the soup.Did you ever try to
sneak in after curfew when you were younger, only to get caught because the
little teeny tiny light you turned on somehow managed to shine right into your
parents’ bedroom?Light has that
tendency, too: to reach into every dark nook and cranny.In the same way, our faith in Jesus
must reach into every area of our life.Being a Catholic can’t be something we restrict to a single hour on
Sunday, or only to certain “religious” aspects of life; it needs to get into
everything, mixing into all we think, do, or say.And we need to shine the light of our faith into the
lives of all the other people we meet, whether at work or school, in the store
or on the street—family, friend, or stranger.There should be no place where we don’t make Jesus’ presence
known.Christianity is meant to be
a comprehensive way of life—one that ought to be infectious.

Have you ever seen a recipe that calls for a single grain of
salt?Of course not.To be effective, quite a few are required.Or imagine that this light bulb is the
only one in all of Malone.It
would certainly not be sufficient to light the community once the sun goes down.But as it is, find a vantage point
where you can look on the village in the dark of night, and it’s all the many
different lights shining together that make it a rather lovely sight to
behold.As Jesus says, “A city set
on a hill cannot be hidden.”The
life to which Jesus calls us is not to be lived in isolation.Our mission is fulfilled best when we
all work together.

“You are the salt of the earth….You are the light of the world.”

The next time you reach for the salt (if your doctor still
lets you do that), or flick the switch to turn on the light, don’t allow it be
just an ordinary, commonplace gesture.
Let it serve as a reminder of the extraordinary calling we’ve received,
the uncommon mission we’ve been given by Jesus. He has given us an essential role to play in his plan, but
one that’s best fulfilled in humility.
Jesus wants us to make his presence known to everybody everywhere, and
we do that most effectively when we come together to work as one. So be salt. Be light.

Saturday, February 4, 2017

I'm a couple days behind in getting this on the blog, but it's such a great song it's still worth posting. Kevin Heider's, "St. Brigid's Fire," recalls the 6th century Irish saint's famous description of heaven: I should like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings. I should like the angels of heaven to be drinking it through time eternal. I should like excellent meats of belief and pure piety. I should like the men of heaven at my house. I should like barrels of peace at their disposal. I should like for them pitchers of mercy. I should like cheerfulness to be their drinking. I should like Jesus to be there among them. I should like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us. I should like the people of heaven, the poor, to be gathered around from all parts.

St. Brigid's feast was February 1st...but I think you could still honor her with a pint...

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

The following article was printed in our parish bulletin last Sunday...

I had never heard of “Reiki”
before moving to Malone six and a half years ago.Maybe you haven’t heard of it, either.But there seems to be a growing
interest in Reiki in our community, and a growing number of people providing it
locally.As a result, I am often asked,
“What do you think about Reiki, Father Joe?”

“Reiki” is a Japanese word that
literally means, “vital spiritual energy.”According to the International Center for Reiki Training in
Southfield, MI, Reiki is a “technique for stress reduction and relaxation that
also promotes healing,” which is “administered by the ‘laying on of hands’ and
is based on the idea that an unseen ‘life force energy’ flows through us and is
what causes us to be alive.”[1]Developed in 1922 by a Buddhist monk in
Japan, Reiki has become an increasingly popular form of complementary or alternative
medicine.The claim is that a “universal
energy” is transferred and manipulated by the hands of a Reiki practitioner,
with therapeutic results.

My first thought on hearing about
Reiki (as it ought to be for any faithful Catholic exploring a spiritual
practice from another religious tradition) was, Does the Church have anything to say about this?And the answer is, Yes, she does!In
2009, the U.S. Catholic Bishops issued a document expressing their deep
concerns about the spiritual/religious implications of the principles that
underlie Reiki.The Bishops
concluded that “Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching
or scientific evidence.”[2]

Our Bishops are not alone in
thinking that it is simply not possible—although it has been frequently
attempted—to equate Reiki’s impersonal “universal energy,” which comes from a
nameless “source,” with the personal God of Christianity, nor to link Reiki’s
“light touch” with the laying on of hands employed in the public ministry of
Jesus Christ and his disciples.[3]As I heard an experienced exorcist
reiterate during a conference last year, since Reiki claims to call upon and
manipulate spiritual “forces” that cannot be identified as coming from God, it
actually violates the First Commandment and even opens the door to diabolical
influence, as do other New Age and occult practices.[4](Despite his best efforts to convince
us otherwise, the devil is quite real and still very much active—an angel of
darkness consistently and cleverly disguising himself as an angel of light.[5])

Regardless of its core principles
and history, there are many who would argue that Reiki is not—strictly
speaking—“religious,” and therefore should be considered in strictly medical
and scientific terms.Yet even
secular hospitals that offer Reiki use explicitly religious language to
describe it.Columbia University
Medical Center has stated that “Reiki does not follow a religious belief
system,” and yet claimed that it works by restoring a patient’s energy from the
“universal life source.”[6]Johns Hopkins describes this form of
“integrative medicine” in explicitly religious/spiritual terms, speaking of
Reiki as a “form of prayer.”[7]

Even if I were to grant that
Reiki is not “religious,” I have been unable to find any convincing scientific
research that supports it as good medicine.Everyone seems to agree that Reiki is “safe” from a medical
standpoint—meaning that, being completely noninvasive, there is little risk of
causing a patient any physical harm and there are no known side effects.[8]But not hurting a patient is a far cry
from evidence that a therapy actually works.The American Cancer Society has said that “available
scientific evidence at this time does not support claims that Reiki can help
treat cancer or any other illness.”[9]International medical journals, on
reviewing the available studies, note that “the value of Reiki remains
unproven.”[10]Even a chart of “relevant citations”
from the Center for Reiki Research (a document provided to me by a Reiki Master)
only lists two examples of “solid initial evidence”—and one of those concerned
the wellbeing of Reiki practitioners, not patients.For all the talk among Reiki advocates about documented
benefits, I’ve had a really difficult time actually finding any reputable
documentation.

The only evidence I consistently
find is the trend that Reiki is available in a growing number of hospitals and
that it seems to increase overall patient satisfaction.These, however, are matters of opinion
polls and surveys, not medical research.A Reiki Master affiliated with Hartford Hospital (the facility that
provided most of the data in the charts from the Center for Reiki Research)
makes the peculiar observation that “waiting
for the research does not change the fact that patients are seeking healing
options such as Reiki and giving us very positive feedback.”[11]It’s disturbing to think that, at least
in this case, public opinion holds more weight than hard facts in
decision-making among healthcare providers.

When Reiki became available in
some Syracuse hospitals several years ago, a local newspaper took notice—pro
and con.A Reiki Master at the VA
clinic there viewed Reiki as “a way to reestablish a physical connection with
patients, something that is vanishing as hospitals become more high tech,” and
thus making the hospital experience “less impersonal.”[12]In a 2011 article, the Wall Street
Journal cites studies done at such places as Harvard Medical and Memorial
Sloan-Kettering, with researchers concluding that the evidence is “still slim”;
yet the co-author of one of the mentioned studies thinks that “it is possible
that a good rapport between the Reiki therapist and the patients could be the
reason for the positive result.”[13]A doctor who regularly writes for the
Connecticut Post looks at the available evidence and is very cautious, but
recognizes that Reiki may have a positive emotional/psychological effect on
some patients, and in that sense can be beneficial.[14]It’s important to note that all of the
positive aspects that are acknowledged in these articles have nothing
specifically to do with Reiki…and everything to do with a more personal and
compassionate approach to patient care.It would be hard to argue against the enduring value of what was once
known as a good “bedside manner.”

“What do you think about Reiki,
Father Joe?”Any medical therapy
with so little clinical evidence (and so much of that evidence inconclusive at
best) should certainly give us pause.But Reiki is not really a matter of medicine; it is a matter of
spirituality, and one that is directly at odds with core elements of our
Catholic faith.I can only echo
the position taken by our Bishops, since my research leads me to the very same
conclusions: I cannot support any
involvement with Reiki, and would advise all faithful Catholics to avoid it for
the sake of their souls.Besides,
we Catholics should rather count our blessings that the Church, since that days
of the Apostles, has had a Scripturally based,[15]
sacramental means in which to experience the Lord’s healing touch.If you’re seriously ill, there’s no
need to go looking elsewhere: seek God’s grace in prayer and ask to receive the
Anointing of the Sick.

Postscript

After publishing it, a few
parishioners spoke with me about their troubles with this article (and, if reports
are accurate, a few more were talking about it with others). I
was so sorry to hear that what I wrote had upset some people. I hope folks know
that was most certainly not my intention! But if my words get people
thinking…well, then I’d have to say they have served their purpose. A few
follow up thoughts…

[1] I was responding to genuine questions. I first wrote a draft
of this article in 2012, but only shared it in the meantime with folks who
occasionally asked me about Reiki. I have continued to revise it over the
years based on further research and reflection, and finally published it
because of a notable rise in the number of people coming to me with their
questions.

[2] It is important to keep an open mind. Some have responded
that the Catholic Church’s approach to Reiki seems rather closed-minded.
Being open-minded needs to go both ways. I simply ask that those
who already have a positive opinion of Reiki would take some time to read and
consider what the Church actually has to say on the matter, rather than
predetermining it “case closed." As G. K. Chesterton once said so
well, "The point of having an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to
close it on something solid.” What the Church has to say—although
not always very popular or well-received—generally proves to be
pretty solid in the long run.

[3] Things are not always what they seem. After reading this
article, a parishioner called and described for me her recent attendance at a
“meditation” session held nearby—an experience that left her feeling
uncomfortable. Hearing her description, I told her she should be uncomfortable:
what she had described was not “meditation” at all, but a séance being led by a
medium. She had gone to it quite innocently, of course, but since the
Bible is rather clear about the dangers of spiritualism and consulting the dead,[16]
I advised she ought never go back. Likewise, I do not for a moment doubt
the sincerity of Catholics who have gotten involved with Reiki—whether giving
or receiving it—and that they have had some positive experiences with it as a
personal spiritual practice…but things are not always as they at first
seem.

[4] This is not simply a matter of my personal opinion. The ideas
I have shared are not my own (and most certainly were not targeted at anyone in
particular, past or present, in my parish or community). I hope readers
will not fault me for teaching what the Catholic Church teaches—on this or any
subject. What sort of priest (or Catholic, for that matter) would I be if
I did not acknowledge the Church as the highest authority when it comes to the
faith? Fr. Tom Weinandy, a Franciscan priest and theologian who helped
draft the Bishop’s statement on Reiki in 2009, was interviewed by PBS about a
year latter; his comments are helpful: "If you try to plug Reiki into
Christianity, what you’re saying is Jesus is not good enough on his own. He’s
got to be supplemented by something else, in this case, the 'divine forces,' so
you’re either downgrading Jesus and Christianity or you’re taking the
heart out of Reiki.… I want to stick with Jesus. I don’t want to open
myself up to other forces that may be, you know, supernatural in
some sense but not of God. I think it’s a risky business to be playing
around with this sort of thing.”[17]

[5] I only wrote what I did because I love the flock entrusted to me.
Imagine, if you will, a doctor who declined to warn you about the dangers
of smoking because she knew it really helped you to relax and keep your weight
under control. In think we can all agree that her silence would be out of
misguided compassion. Of course, she can warn you of the dangers…and you still
remain free to smoke. I have spoken up and shared this Church teaching out
of my deep care and concern for the spiritual welfare of the Lord’s flock; what
folks choose to do with this knowledge is now up to them. (And I hope people
believe me when I say that this really is my sole motivation in all I do as a
pastor!)

Mary, Virgin and Mother

We fly to your patronage,O holy Mother of God;despise not our petitions

in our necessities,but deliver us from all evil,O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Saint Joseph

Pray for us!

"St. Joseph was

an ordinary sort of man

on whom God relied

to do great things."

--St. Josemaria Escriva

Saint Barnabas

Pray for us!

"...Joseph,

also named by the apostles Barnabas

(which is translated

son of encouragement)..."

--Acts 4:36

Saint Bruno

Pray for us!

"Only those who have experienced

the solitude and silence

of the wilderness

can know the benefit and divine joy

they bring to those who love them."

--St. Bruno

(1030-1101)

Saint Francis of Assisi

Pray for us!

"You should never let anyone

leave your presence in sadness."

--St. Francis of Assisi

(1181-1226)

Saint Philip Neri

Pray for us!

"A servant of God

ought always to be happy."

--St. Philip Neri

(1515-1595)

Saint John Francis Regis

Pray for us!

"No violence of cold, no snows...,

no mountains, or torrents...,

could be an obstacle to his zeal."

--comment of a contemporary

of St. John Francis Regis

(1597-1640)

Saint John Mary Vianney

Pray for us!

"Our faults

are like grains of sand

next to the great mountain

of the mercies of God."

--St. John Vianney

(1786-1859)

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Pray for us!

"The value of life does not depend

upon the place we occupy;

it depends upon the way

we occupy that place."

--St. Thérèse of Lisieux

(1873-1897)

Saint André Bessette

Pray for us!

"It is with the smallest brushes

that the Artist paints

the most exquisitely

beautiful pictures."

--St. André Bessette

(1845-1937)

Blessed Charles de Foucauld

Pray for us!

"The absence of risk

is a sure sign

of mediocrity."

--Blessed Charles de Foucauld

(1858-1916)

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Pray for us!

"The higher we go,

the better we shall hear

the voice of Christ."

--Blessed Pier Girogio Frassati

(1901-1925)

Saint John Paul II

Pray for us!

"Up to the evening of your life

remain in wonder and gratitude

for that mysterious call

which one day echoed

in the depths of your spirit:

Follow me!”

--Blessed John Paul II

(1920-2005)

Keep smiling!

“I’m not a man who constantly thinks up jokes. But I think it’s very important to be able to see the funny side of life and its joyful dimension and not to take everything too tragically. I’d also say it’s necessary for my ministry. A writer once said that angels can fly because they don't take themselves too seriously. Maybe we could also fly a bit if we didn’t think we were so important.”